Sometimes you just want a cake that zings at you – Simple to prepare, but substantial that you can have hearty chunks but yet it is light and crumbly – and oh Wow! How tasty.

Grapefruits are synonymous with holidays for me – I first discovered the joy of eating them outdoors for breakfast in France about 4 years ago and very much look forward to carrying on the tradition this summer. In true holiday preparation mode, I bought a grapefruit earlier in the week and remembered how amazing this cake can be.

Ingredients

1 Juice & Finely Grated Zest of Grapefruit (Keep a little of the grapefruit juice to one side for the icing drizzle)

3 Finely grated Lemon Zest - Keep one lot of zest aside for decoration (plus juice of 2 of the lemons for the cake & 1 for the icing drizzle)

380g Self Raising Flour (Plus around 3 tbsp extra for lining the tin)

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

180ml Milk

225g Icing Sugar

Directions

Cake

Preheat the oven to 170C and butter the inside of a bundt cake tin. Sprinkle flour inside the tin until all the butter is covered and shake out any excess

Using an electric mixer, whisk the butter and caster sugar until well combined and pale & fluffy

Add the eggs, one at a time, carrying on whisking on a medium speed - Add the vanilla extract

Add the grapefruit & Lemon juice & grated zest - Add 3 tbsp of flour at the same time to stop it curdling

Add the rest of the flour, one tbsp at a time & the milk alternately. As soon as the last tbsp of flour & all of the milk has been added, turn the mixer off and continue to fold together by hand using a spatula

Pour into the bundt tin and bake for 55 minutes - Check after this time, if a skewer comes out clean then it is done - alternatively, the cake may need another 12 minutes - I sometimes turn the oven down to 160C at this point to stop the outside getting too dark

Drizzle Icing

When the cake is cooling, mix together the remaining lemon/grapefruit juice with the icing sugar

Pour over the top - allow it to drizzle down the sides and into the centre. Sprinkle over the remaining lemon zest

There was one recipe that stood out for me as a ‘must try’ from our last entries – These are Tin & Thyme’s Chinese Walnut Cookies – I love the thought of crunchy exterior and soft middles – the addition of walnuts are just my sort of thing. They are really small cookies too, so there is plenty of excuse for more than one! They use buckwheat flour which happily I have sitting waiting to use in the baking cupboard.

Lets have a chocolate roundup – I’m off to France, where we will no doubt be consuming tons of the stuff!

We are going through so many berries at the moment – the girls can munch their way through punnets without even noticing – Some great berry recipes included in this week’s entries:

6. How amazing does this Mixed Berry Charlotte Russe look from Domestic Gothess – That Bavarian Cream looks heavenly!
7. Freshly back from her own holiday, Petite Raisin has created a speedy Peach & Blueberry Greek Yogurt Cake
8. A warm welcome to the Bake of the Week gang to Living Life who joins us with her Fruity Olive Oil Cake – Good to have you with us!
9. Wimbledon Cupcake with a delicate rose flavour from ET Speaks From Home – I’m sad Wimbledon is over for another year, did you love it?
10. There are few things in life as good as Homemade Strawberry Tarts – well worth making your own pastry and custard – Tales from The Kitchen Shed has shared her very beautifully arranged ones
11. Perfect dessert for after Sunday lunch from Baking Queen 74 with her Blackberry & Rose Crumble – Mouth wateringly good!

I think this week is one of the most creative we’ve ever had – there’s so many ingredients that are all too forgotten when baking:

12. Enjoy the joy of quiche without the guilt of too much pastry with Hijacked by Twins and her Crustless Quiche – Full of veg and taste!
13. Perfect party food from My Little Italian Kitchen with her Olive & Pepper Focaccia
14. Totally melt in the mouth Butter Shortbread Cookies from Winnie’s Blog – Too pretty!
15. A very exciting week as I’d Much Rather Bake Than finally gets her own kitchen – I would adore some of her Cheese & Marmite Muffins – Are you a lover or a hater?
16. Another perfect Picnic Snack from A Free From Life with her Courgette & Chive Tartlets – This post is jam packed full of ideas!
17. Campfire Salmon that is proving popular over on Pinterest from Truly Madly Kids – We might very well indulge in this on our hols

Right, I’m off on my hols so I’m leaving #Bakeoftheweek in the capable hands of 2 lovely blogging friends for the next few weeks – Here’s the timetable:

This linky will remain open until Mon 27th July

Tues 28th July – Head on over to Lucy at Baking Queen 74 – Link will be open for 2 weeks

Tues 11 July – Jen at Jen’s Food will take over until Tues 18th August

Thanks so much ladies for taking over – Please support your hosts by sharing their posts

Plea: If you could remember to add the badge to your posts, I would be ever so grateful – I know that life comes first though and it is easy to forget! Its the only way we will build the #Bakeoftheweek gang and gets your posts shared everywhere!

Ingredients

3oz Caster Sugar (Plus another 2 tbsp for sprinkling on the baking tray)

2oz Plain Flour

1oz Cocoa Powder

113g Mint Aero Balls

284ml Double Cream (Whipped until very thick)

Green Food Colouring

1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190C and line a Swiss Roll tin or Silicone Tray with baking parchment - Sprinkle the 2 tbsp of caster sugar on top of this parchment

Whisk the caster sugar and eggs with an electric mixer for at least 10 minutes until thick and pale. When you lift the whisk out of the mixture, the lines should remain there for a few seconds after.

Gently fold in the flour and cocoa until just combined

Spread gently and evenly across the baking tray and bake for 12 minutes - turn once, then continue baking for a further 2 minutes

Remove from the oven and as soon as you are able, bend the cake over to a roll shape - Unroll then allow to cool fully

Meanwhile, chop the bag of Mint Aeros (except for 10 balls that you will use as decoration) and add half to the whipped double cream, along with the peppermint extract

When the cake has fully cooled, sprinkle the remaining chopped Aero Balls on top of the cake, then spread the cream evenly on the cake - I took 3 tbsp of the cream mixture to one side to use as decoration

Roll the cake from one of the thin ends until it looks like a swiss roll then decorate with the remaining Mint Aero Balls and cream mixture

Normal rules apply for Bake of the Week – Up to 3 posts per baker. No theme – all welcome – they don’t have to include a recipe, just a post about a bake whether it be sweet, savoury, small, large, decorated, disaster, slow cooker or oven. Please include the badge to spread the word in your post and if you get chance visit some of the other entrants to admire their bakes.

I’m surprised that there haven’t been Charlotte cakes popping up everywhere with the arrival of Princess Charlotte. (Did you see those pictures last weekend? How cute?!)

I’ve taken inspiration for this week’s Lime Charlotte Cake from Baking Heaven magazine. You may have seen my recent post about being a magazines.co.uk ambassador – I’m loving it!

I only made the cake in the recipe – There is a section for some filling containing condensed milk and limes. We had so much cake going on in the kitchen though that I just couldn’t justify so much sweetness. So I opted for whipped double cream with the zest of 2 more limes in it instead!

We have had the ladyfingers in the kitchen cupboard for ages. They really needed using up so I decided not to make my own. The girls were delighted – they love them!

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 6.5 ” cake tin with baking parchment – I only had a 7″ so did it in this. It was quite a shallow cake though and took a LOT of strawberries and grapes to fill it so I would definitely recommend a 6″ or even a 5″ next time.
Using an electric mixer, whisk the butter and sugar and gradually add the eggs until they are well whisked
Add the lime zest and fold in the flour, baking powder and the buttercream
Pour into the cake tin and bake for 20-30 minutes. (After 20 minutes the cake was still very wobbly but starting to turn golden on top so I turned it down to 160C and carried on cooking for a further 15 minutes)

To Assemble:
When the cake has fully cooled place on a flat plate or cake stand
Spread half of the double cream (I used a 284ml tub whisked until very thick) on top of the cake
Use the rest of the cream to dot on the bottom of the ladyfingers and stick around the sides
Secure with a ribbon
Fill in the centre with plenty of strawberries and grapes and sprinkle with icing sugar to finish
Eat immediately

I have to choose these Cherry Lamingtons from Domestic Gothess as my featured Bake of the Week – They are so well done. Hannah makes them look so easy. I first heard about the Australian Lamington when I first started blogging. I read tons of Australian baking blogs (and still do) I’ve never tried them with Cherry jam – I bet they tasted incredible.

I’m always intrigued by the combinations that other bakers come up with – Some prefer using classic combinations and others like just having a go and seeing what works. I’ve got a post coming up in the next couple of days that tests preconceived ideas of taste combinations – Watch this space! So lets celebrate Combinations!

Thanks as always to everyone who visits all the other bakers – Its lovely to see that you have beaten me to it when I visit all your blogs. You really are a talented bunch and I thank you so much for sticking with me – especially this week and last week when life has definitely got in the way! There’s no theme as usual – All posts will be commented on, tweeted (if I know your twitter profile) and google+ed – And not forgetting our Bake of the Week Pinterest board which at time of writing has an enormous 48K followers! There’s no theme – all bakes are welcome.

I’m currently planning for my summer break – If you would be interested in hosting Bake of the Week for a week in the summer, please let me know. I would be ever so grateful.

It feels like AGES since the last #Bakeoftheweek – As suspected, half term was crazy busy with Millie’s England swimming training. This week is all about Violet – My lovely, kind, crazy, extreme, beautiful girl is now a very grown up 9! How did those years disappear so quickly? The baby that arrived in less than 1.5 hours has turned into a stunning young lady that makes us so proud and makes us tear our hair out in equal measures.

I couldn’t share this week’s #Bakeoftheweek before the birthday girl had seen her own cake, could I? She had a full on day, plenty of sweets after school, a special pick up by her cousin, followed by the opening night of Wicked at The Lowry. Violet is amazing to go to a show with – she gets completely stuck in, laughing heartily and clapping like mad. Love it!

And so back to the cake. A rich chocolate cake with melted dark chocolate (use milk chocolate if you like – totally not precious here!) I split the mixture into 2 cake tins and then sliced them in half making a 4 tier cake. Filled in with plenty of white chocolate frosting and completely covered in approximately 34 Kit Kat fingers, One bag of Aero Mint Balls, One bag of Maltesers and One bag of White Chocolate Buttons. I MAY have bought some spare chocolate packs just to make sure we had enough – I’m sure you understand!

Ingredients

100g Dark Brown Chocolate (I use 85% cocoa and melt at 10 second intervals in the microwave)

2 tablespoons Double Cream

Directions

Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 160C and line 2 x 8" cake tins with baking parchment

Using an electric mixer on a medium setting, whisk the first lot of butter and dark brown sugar together until pale and fluffy

Add in the egg yolks and 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract gradually until fully combined

Stir in the melted dark chocolate

Fold in the flour, until just coming together

Whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks and fold into the cake mixture gently to keep as much of the air as possible

Separate the cake mixture between the 2 tins and bake for 45-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean

Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. When cool, cut the cakes into 2 halves - If you are not confident about slicing the cakes in half (across) then it is fine to leave as 2 whole cakes

White Chocolate Frosting

Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate at 10 second intervals in the microwave and leave to cool slightly

Mix together the remaining butter and the icing sugar in an electric mixer and add the white chocolate and remaining vanilla.

Add in the double cream. If the frosting is not as stiff as you would like or it is a particularly hot day, you may need to add more icing sugar

Stack the cooled cakes, spreading a layer of frosting between each layer and fill in any gaps with remaining frosting

Stick Kit Kats around the sides of the cake until you meet up - You may need to add extra frosting to help a couple of them stick - this cake is perfect for disguising any lumps and bumps in cake (I also turn the top tier of cake upside down for a flatter surface)

I made 6 segments and separated them with matchmakers but just us whatever you have - Extra Kit Kats will do but they will be thicker

Fill in the segments with whatever chocolates you prefer and consume within 2 days - Keep in the fridge if you have room!

So many wonderful bakes once again for this week’s #Bakeoftheweek – I have to give a special mention to Eileen from ET Speaks From Home with Princess Castle Cake – I know that this will have taken forever and she has done such a great job. Lucky little girl!

I also want to mention Herbs, Spices & Tradition with Baked Asparagus – I love that this is entered into #Bakeoftheweek – completely the spirit of the linky that anything baked is valid …and I don’t eat enough Asparagus, so thanks for the reminder!

For the first time ever, we have enough Cheese related entries to have their own section! So I present to you the Cheesy Bites …

Thanks so much once again for your entries into Bake of the Week – Hopefully next week’s #Bakeoftheweek will be bang on time next Tues/Wed! There’s no theme so get spreading the word when you see someone baking online. Have a great week!

It’s been Nanna Val’s birthday this weekend – A pretty significant 65 on the 1st May. Now Nanna Val is rather partial to a tipple of Baileys – She rarely drinks it neat but a cup of coffee just isn’t the same without some. In honour of the birthday girl, I decided to make a substantial cake – We are off out for the day tomorrow, so this is joining us.

A triple Chococcino Cake (Coffee & Chocolate) with luxurious Bailey’s cheesecake sandwiched between – Topped with a soft Bailey’s frosting, made into pretty roses. Definitely not one for the kids – although they’ve been hinting about a slice of the cake all day!

If you fancy having a go at piping your own roses, its a lot easier than you think – I’ve produced a super short video showing you how (Its only 8 seconds long!)

If this recipe has whetted your appetite for more Baileys recipes then why not try some of the recipes over at the Bailey’s website

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. This recipe uses just under 2 units of alcohol in this recipe. The NHS recommends that you do not regularly exceed 3-4 units for men and 2-3 units for women a day.

Happy Easter! One of the loveliest days of the year – full of pastel colours, chocolate and little chicks. Hope you are having a super day.

You may already be sorted for Easter baking but in case you are still yearning for something sweet and crunchy, the bakers at Stork have invented the Easter Nest Cupcake for our delight. All about making the humble cupcake that little bit more interesting with the addition of their very own Cornflake Nest on top, they are speedy to make and great for sharing. If that wasn’t enough, we are encouraged to add a couple of Mini Eggs to the top for decoration too!

We enjoyed ours at our family Easter lunch with this bunch of crazy kiddies! Safe to say, the cupcakes went down very well! We even played Egg & Spoon balancing using the Easter Cupcakes – They weren’t very good at balancing!

Well, its a bit of a different Bake of the Week from me this week. I hadn’t realised how long it had been since I did a properly decorated cake until Tara said ‘Wow Mummy, did you do that ALL by yourself?!’ Bless her! We had our crazy happy week last week, when Tara & Dermot celebrated their birthdays on the same day.

There was no question that the theme of Tara’s party was going to be Minions – She’s mad on them. Her nursery bag has to be Minion, her favourite t-shirt is her Minion one (That has to be washed and ironed in lightning quick speed).

It was rather strange to get back into my sugarcraft drawers and I was a bit apprehensive that I might have forgotten how to do cake decorating. I think the results were ok? In fact, I really enjoyed an afternoon of creating Creme Egg Minions So much so, we started talking about maybe taking orders for some cakes after Tara starts school in September and saying YES to a possible wedding cake in November!

The party itself was a real traditional one in our church hall which is a lovely, light, clean and spacious place. We were gifted some Minion party supplies courtesy of Party Bags & Supplies and added to the rest ourselves. That giant Minion balloon has been everywhere that Tara has this weekend – It even went strapped in the car to Manchester for synchro practice!

Ready made party bags from Party Bags & Supplies

Homemade Party Bags made by Millie

I love a 4th birthday party, its great to see children dressed in their party gear – Girls wearing their party dresses and the boys with their little body warmers on. Too cute!

Tara was wearing a gorgeous yellow dress and navy card from Next – It wasn’t intentional that she matched the Minion colour scheme but rather fitting! Even Violet was colour co-ordinated, also wearing a yellow top and cardigan from Next.

For the entertainment, Tara chose Fran from Jo Jingles, Warrington. We attend Fran’s class every Monday and Tara just loves it. It has really brought her out of her shell and she talks about Jo Jingles all the time. Fran has amazing control of a large group – All the parents were marvelling at how she gets them to join in and keeps them contained!

Older sister, Violet with her mates, cousin & a HUGE handmade Minion!

So many amazing creations entered for our previous Bake of the Week – One flavour combination really stood out for me as a must to try …Apricot Cheesecake with Amaretto Caramel. This sounds just too incredible and right up my street from a newcomer to the Bake of the Week family, Giraffes can Bake

1. Pretty Triple Chocolate Hidden Heart Cake from Mummy Mishaps
2. Perfect pastry from Winnie with her Chocolate Halva Tart
3. Goodness me, these Red Velvet Brownies with Oreo Cream Cheese look tasty – Domestic Gothess
4. This Chocolate Chip Layer Cake is certainly the ultimate as its name suggests from Giraffes Can Bake
5. Classic combination of strawberries & White Chocolate from Baking Queen 74
6. A warm welcome to Mrs B’s Kitchen with her stunning Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies
7. Introducing us to Milano Cookies with her Chocolate Cake is Dream Baker
8. I can’t get enough of cheesecake brownies – one of the best inventions ever! Jibber Jabber Uk
9. A very pretty Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake & another warm welcome to Chardonnay & Samphire
10. Looking simply heavenly …Mars Bars Stuffed Salted Caramel Blondies from Baking in Pyjamas
11. The crazy for Salted Caramel is still as popular as ever with these brownies from Baking in Pyjamas

12. If you are trying to be healthy with your baking, try these Blueberry & Orange Muffin Bars from Tales from the Kitchen Shed
13. Super pretty Marshmallow Flower Cupcakes from Searching for Spice
14. If you are still feeling romantic, try these Pink Velvet Lofthouse soft cookies from Baking Chocolatess
15. Super cute Heart Oreo Sandwich Cookies again from Baking Chocolatess
16. I really fancy trying these Pineapple Cookies from Dream Baker – They are dairy free too!
17. We have got in the habit of buying Peanut Cookies for after training, I’m going to try making these from Dream Baker
18. These Lemon Velvet Squares from Baking in Pyjamas would be perfect to fit in with the yellow theme at Tara’s party

19. Tempting me away from my classic lemon & sugar with her Nutella Spelt Pancakes is Baking Queen 74
20. Adding Cranberry to the classic combo of Maple & Pecan in her cake is Jen’s Food – A warm welcome to you too!
21. Tasty looking Chinese Chicken Pie (but also make sure you check out those super cute Tunnocks Teacakes Sheep!) from Foodie Quine – Welcome!
22. I can’t resist a good Orange Sponge Cake & this from Snap Happy Bakes looks very tempting – a warm welcome to you too!
23. Loving these Lentil Stuffed Peppers from Herbs, Spices & Tradition
24. For the vegans amongst us, we have Valentines Vegan French Toast from the Free From Farmhouse
25. A comforting, gluten free Prune & Raisin Loaf from Lancashire Food
26. Much underused Grapefruit is added to this Honey & Almond Cake from Chocolate Log Blog and a Happy Bloggiversary to you!
27. Apple & Almond perfect pairing with My Little Italian Kitchen’s Pie – Alida seems to love almonds almost as much as I do!
28. How beautiful is this Heart Swiss Roll from Winnie’s Blog? The decoration is so clear.

Huge thank you as ever to everyone who entered their bakes – I really appreciate it and love finding all your blogs. The linky is open for this week’s #Bakeoftheweek – Feel free to tweet me @CasaCostello to let me know you have added your link and I will retweet.

There are some things I make that surprise even me, how popular they are. These Dulce de Leche kisses never fail to disappear and I’m always surprised how quickly they do! I have a confession though, I used shop bought Dulce de Leche instead of making my own. I’ve had a huge tub that I bought in Costco before Christmas that I wanted to use up. Its definitely not as good as homemade but for a quick bake and when you are only using a small dollop, shop bought is just fine.

Note

These can be frozen before the Dulce de Leche is added - allow to defrost at room temperature for 2 hours before adding the Dulce de Leche

Directions

Add the soft cheese and vanilla whilst still mixing on a medium setting. Add the egg yolk .

Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour and the baking powder until just combined.

Stop the mixer and fold in the coconut.

Bring the mixture together by hand into a dough and wrap in cling film - Freeze for 30 minutes

Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 baking trays with baking parchment

Roll the dough into small balls - about the size of a Ferrero Rocher

Make an indentation in the centre with something approx 1/2 cm wide - I used a plastic cake dowel and kept dipping into flour to stop it sticking to the dough. At a push - a little finger belonging to a 4 year old would do!

Bake for 12 minutes - You might want to move the tray around after 10 to ensure an even bake but these are so small that it is not necessary

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 1-2 minutes then pipe the Dulce de Leche in - I use a disposable piping bag as it is fairly runny

Well, we had the biggest week ever for Bake of the Week this week – I’m so grateful that you all join in and am loving finding so many new bloggers that bake.

My featured Bake of the week is a lovely creation from Hey Cakes! with her Blueberry & Blood Orange Cake – The decorating is so pretty and I love the thought of that flavour combination.

I’ve separated all the other bakes (all 24 of you lovely people!) in different categories – In honour of Saturday being the most romantic day of the year, we start with Romantic Bakes

1. Its lovely to welcome Baking in Pyjamas to the Bake of the Week gang with her delightful Raspberry Chocolate Heart Cookies – I think even Dermot might find these romantic!
2. I love the simplicity of Baking Queen 74’s Raspberry Shortbread Hearts – I can imagine children up and down the land making these for their parents
3. How pretty is this Chocolate Cherry Cake from Winnie’s blog? – Beautiful as ever!
4. And even more beautiful (and rather ambitious!) is this White Chocolate Mud Cake again from Winnie’s Blog
5. Just WOW! to the idea of a box of chocolate made from cake – Jibber Jabber nails it! And so much for your ‘limited decorating skills’ – you are amazing!
6. There’s no more romantic day to get married on than Valentines and this wedding cake from Caroline Makes is just exquisite – Such delicate decorations.
7. Not strictly for just Valentine’s Day but these cute little hearts make Baking in Pyjamas’ Cherry Chocolate Coconut Slices romantic nonetheless

For the dough makers amongst us …

8. Domestic Gothess combines timeless Chocolate & Cherries with her Challah complete with the most amazing six strand braid
9. I’m not a fan of olives but could be tempted by this Black Olive Focaccia from Baking in Pyjamas – I will be baking focaccia very soon too.
10. And Baking Queen 74 takes slow cookers to a new level again with her Spinach & Feta Focaccia

Sometimes you don’t want to share, you just want a portion all of your own …

11. You have GOT to read Baking Chocolatess’ post on her Brownie Marshmallow Cookies for the full glory of the marshmallow centre. Cor! – A big warm welcome to her too!
12. Happy New Chinese Year to Eileen and her family from ET Speaks From Home who is celebrating with her peanut cookies
13. Another new entrant and a big wave ‘hello’ to These Little Lights with her Oatmeal Raisin Cookies – I can imagine these disappearing quickly in this house too.
14. Super decorative cookies from Herbs, Spices & Tradition with her Eat Sum More Christmas Cookies made with her grandchildren
15. Using only 5 ingredients but turning out amazingly, Sea Salt & Pepper Caramels from Patisserie Makes Perfect
16. Perfectly uniform Vegan & Gluten Free Rhubarb & Custard Doughnuts from Allotment 2 Kitchen – Incredible for the first time making them.

17. A superb, rich & dark Chocolate, Peanut & Banana Loaf from Baking Chocolatess
18. Bringing back lovely memories of my Grandma who also used to bake a Coconut Raspberry Cake like this one from Julie’s Family Kitchen
19. Classic Tiramisu and a hello to Bakewell Junction – This looks rather light and delicious!
20. Bonjour to De Tout Coeur Limonsin with her rich, luscious Chocolate Fudge Brownies
21. Another newbie with her lemon white chocolate bars – I’m very tempted to have a go at these from Emotional Baker (Love that blog name!)
22. Super neat almond cake which is also Gluten and Diary Free from This is not my Home – Hello and Welcome!
23. A vegan carrot cake that looks full of goodness and taste from Free From Farmhouse – A lovely blog that I have only discovered this week.
24. And finishing with a flourish is Farmersgirl Kitchen with the sort of Tea Time Cake good bakers should always have in their larder ready (I haven’t :-()

Here is the badge for everyone to include in their post – a link to Bake of the Week is just fine if you’d rather not use the badge but please tell everyone about our gang!

Its half term next week and its also the most manic of weeks in our house – Baby T is a big grown up 4 next Friday (on the same day that her Daddy turns 37!) Where have those 4 years gone?!? Remember this post? The linky will be extended for 2 weeks so feel free to enter up to 4 bakes each over the fortnight – I’m thinking I will be showcasing a special little girl’s birthday cake next time! I’m also off to Crystal Palace and back (twice) with Millie as she starts her England Talent training for 2015 next week – plus we are squeezing in a couple of days at Alton Towers … and a birthday party!. What are your plans for half term?

In other news, did you watch The Secret Life of 4 year olds last night? Hilarious – I will forever be calling people a ‘Green Toilet’ 😉

Its #BramleyAppleWeek so as part of my plan to be more seasonal during 2015, I have an apple recipe this week. I like my cupcakes to have something different about them these days – I think I overdosed on frosting during my days of charity events when I used to bake up to 500 cupcakes (and eat a few too!)

The apple pie mixture is rich, cinnamony and heavenly – There’s plenty left over as I make a huge batch. I will be making apple turnovers later today to carry on the apple theme.

I use a mixture of Bramley Apples and Granny Smiths but this mixture works well with any type of tangy, strong apples – Save your Golden Delicious for feeding horses!

My featured recipe from last week’s Bake of the Week entries is this beautiful Chocolate Cake with a Strawberry Mousse Heart – Perfect for every day, not just Valentine’s Day. Just look at those colours! This was the entry from the lovely Winnie’s Blog which I spend so much time reading.

1. Some more beautiful colours from Domestic Gothess with her Mini Chocolate Raspberry Cakes for 2 – How romantic?!
2. Amazing decoration, again from the Domestic Gothess with her Hazelnut & Chocolate Layer Cake
3. For those good people who are still being healthy well into the New Year, Tales from the Kitchen Shed has shared her Mini Sugar Free Cheesecakes
4. Eileen from Et Speaks From Home has more than perfected her macarons – These Strawberry Macarons are just lovely
5. Plenty of chocolate around this week and Hey Cakes! doesn’t disappoint with her Chocolate Chip Cake
6. Another spectacular from Winnie’s Blog with her gorgeous Peanut Butter & Honey Cake
7. Perfect with a good book and a hot cuppa are Baking Queen 74’s Caramel Scones
8. Just look at the fantastic colour of those nectarines in Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins’ Nectarine Coconut Cake – I’m very tempted to bake this one, this week.
9. Using up her Whisky Marmalade (its a hard job but someone’s got to do it!) is the Lass in the Apron with her Oat Pecan Marmalade Muffins

Thanks as usual for all the entries – Normal rules apply for this week, all bakes are allowed, no theme. Savoury, sweet, mini, large, unusual, disasters – they don’t have to include a recipe – if you’ve just been talking about baking, feel free to join in and add the badge below: The linky will close next Tuesday and the roundup and a new Bake of the Week will be posted next Wednesday

There were times yesterday that I began to dislike this cake! How can something you have made over and over again, be so awkward? The moral of my story is ‘Do not bake when you are running around like a headless chicken and expect it to turn out perfect’. I’ve said it so many times, I really should listen!

Anyway, back to the bake – There was actually nothing wrong with either bake that I made yesterday – I can vouch for this as I ate more than my bodyweight in Swiss Roll yesterday and it was all light and gorgeous. Just not photo worthy. I was leaving the house within the hour to go to choose wedding dresses with my youngest sister and tried to stretch time by popping in a quick Swiss Roll – Now this recipe is quick but not even this one can be finished within 30 mins.

We are not the most romantic of households, it has to be said. This may well be the only nod to Valentines Day that we do – There’s plenty of love in our family, but not many hearts and flowers. I actually tagged Dermot into my Facebook status yesterday at the bridal shop, asking if we should do the marriage stuff all over again .. His response?..’Could you be bothered?!’ And they say romance is dead!

I piped the hearts and baked for 4 minutes before adding the rest of the mixture. My tip would be to use a Size 2 nozzle and make the heart shaped really defined. Make it look stupidly so – sharps points, the lot. I coloured 4 tbsp of the cake mixture (before adding the chocolate) with RED RED paste food colour.

I just love this week’s featured Bake of the Week – Plum & Marzipan Braid from Hannah at Domestic Gothess.

Plenty of other delicious entries from around the blogging world too this week …

1. Delightful Apple Cinnamon Donuts from Winnie’s Blog
2. Also celebrating Valentines with some pretty pastel meringues is ET Speaks from home
3. Love the thought of these jam muffin donuts from Winnie’s Blog and even better that they are baked not fried.
4. You can imagine you are in Sicily with My Little italian Kitchen’s Sicilian Reginelle Biscuits
5. Happy Birthday to Julie’s son from Julie’s Family kitchen – He celebrated with a football cake
6. If you are after some crunch, try the Domestic Gothess’ Orange Cornmeal Biscuits
7. For the healthy ones amongst us, try Slow Cooked Pumpkin & Mango Oat Bars courtesy of Baking Queen 74
8. Galina at Chez Maximka tempted us with her Orange Angel Slices
9. Hey Cakes shared these lovely Cottage Cheese & Almond Rolls
10. Making a welcome return to Bake of the week with her Matcha Breakfast Cakes is Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins
11. Mummy Mishaps went super frugal with her 5p mincemeat in these flapjacks
Centre: Super tempting Malted Chocolate Bundt Cake from Chocolate Log Blog

The link is now open for this week’s #Bakeoftheweek and here is the badge to include in your post

Thanks again to everyone who entered and visited each others – Us bloggers live on feedback(and cake) so we love your comments. Don’t forget to join in with #FoodieFriday this week which I am officially now taking over – No theme and anything foodie is allowed. Open all week, not just Friday!

For Bake of the Week entries, all types of bakes are welcome – savoury, sweet, healthy, biscuits, cakes, bread, pies – I share them all on twitter, Pinterest and Google+ and comment on them all. Feel free to join the Pinterest board where there are over 300 entries!